Hello Friends and Wine Lovers!

Welcome to the Carpe Vinum Newsletter Thingamajig and Tasting Announcement Whooziwhatsit! This week is special! Why is it special? You remember when you were a kid and asked your folks about why there was a Mother’s Day and a Father’s Day and a Grandparent’s Day but there was no Children’s Day, and they would give you the cop-out line that “every day is Children’s Day”, which you knew was just a line to get you to stop asking questions, like the “Because I said so” line? Well this isn’t like that. I could give the line that this week is special because every week is special. And, indeed, every week is special for different reasons. However this week is special because we’re having Portuguese wines! Are Portuguese wines special? Yes! Well, mostly. But perhaps I should create a new paragraph before continuing.

There, that’s better. As we know, not every wine in the world can be spectacular. Also, for years most of the Portuguese wines only remarkable for how unremarkable they were. Even still, I think a lot of what we see in this country are red wines produced by Port houses looking to sink fruit that didn’t make the cut for their fortified Ports. Most of these are simple budget wines. Decent for the price, but fairly unexciting. We end up seeing a lot of these because the Port houses have a lot more influence with the importers, already having a foothold in foreign markets. On the other hand, there are smaller wineries focused on non-fortified wine production that excel in the region and do produce some wonderful wines showing the potential of the region and the grape varieties therein.

One thing Portuguese wine possesses is easily-classifiable categories of wine. There is, of course, red wine. It sounds simple, and it is. Unlike the rest of Europe where the region featured on the label determines percentages of allowable grapes to create a regional style, in Portugal the regional classifications seem to be more about simple geographical boundaries. Sure, there are lists of allowable grapes, but in such great numbers of varieties that one would assume that the only discernable differences between regions would be just the general feeling of “terroir”. I don’t think there are enough Portuguese wines available in town to really tell whether or not this is the case. On the other hand, there are single-varietal wines can give you an idea of terroir from the reference point of other wines made from the same grape. That is of little help, though, considering most of the wines made in Portugal come from native varietals not grown elsewhere outside Portugal. In that way you could say the Portuguese red table wines certainly are unique.

For the most part, the same goes for white wines, with the exception of the ever-popular and inexpensive and world-famous Vinho Verde. The name directly translated means “green wine”, for the greenish tint to it. It’s a wine made light, cheaply, slightly fizzy, and off-sweet. It’s a perfect summer quaffing wine that won’t cost a lot, and isn’t to be taken too seriously. I mean, if you accidentally spilled your Chassagne-Montrachet into the bushes, it’d be a near-tragedy. If you spilled your Vinho Verde, it’d only be the annoyance of having to get up an open another bottle. In fact, it’s such a light and informal wine, I’ve probably spent too much time on it, already.

Which brings us to fortified wines, the most famous of the region: Port and Madeira! Both start out the same way. As grape juice. Just like a regular wine. Then a magical thing happens! No wait. I guess it’s not magical. I suppose it’s more chemical. While the grape juice is undergoing the regular fermentation process, a high-alcohol and flavorless grape-Brandy is added to the mix. The high alcohol kills off the yeasts which halts the fermentation preserves the natural sugars in the juice. Plus it adds a healthy *cough* dose of alcohol at the same time. Voila’! Fortified wine!

From there, there is actually a lot of things to know about Ports and Madeiras. Ports are technically known as “Porto”, named for the region from which it comes. There are two styles of Port that refers to what happens to the wine after it is fortified. The Ruby style is when the juice is primarily bottled after only a brief stay in larger, sealed oak casks. Most of the aging is meant to be done in the bottle. This includes Vintage Port, Late Bottled Vintage, Crusted Port and your standard Ruby. The Tawny style of Port is where the wines are aged in oak barrels that have some exposure to the open air. The wine is aged in these barrels for certain extended lengths of time where the color fades to a “tawny” shade, and oxidation happens that gives the wine a nutty characteristic. Included in Tawny styles are vintage dated Tawnies named Colheita, year-designated ports in increments of 10, 20, 30 and 40 year old ports, and your standard Tawnies aged for less than 10 years.

Madeira is made on the island of Madeira, located off the coast of Africa. The wines are made in a Tawny style, but as a bit of extra abuse, the wines are heated in large ovens (to about 120 degrees) for a matter of months. This is to replicate what happens to a wine in the cargo hold of an old frigate as it passes through the tropics. It’s a process that we can automatically assume people discovered by accident. The result is a wine that has more concentrated and caramelized flavors.

Whew! There really was quite a bit to go over, there. Sorry ’bout that. I just wanted to be thorough! Anyway, what I did here is put together examples of all these styles. One Vinho Verde and one regular white wine, which will be good for what will reportedly a warm day, tomorrow. From there we’ll have 3 red wines, one of which has been my favorite Portuguese wine for many years: Cortes de Cima’s Chamine. There is a brand new vintage for it, and for a limited time it’s $3 less than before! Completing the lineup will be a Ruby Porto, a Tawny Porto, and a Madeira. I think it’s a spectacular lineup! See you soon!

So Friday, April 6th, between 4:30 and 9:00 PM it’s:

Portugal!!!
Alianca 2005 Vinho Verde, Minho
Quinta dos Roques 2004 Encruzado, Dao
Casa Santos Lima 2004 Touriga Nacional, Estremadura
Quinta do Carmo 2002 Dom Martinho, Alentejo
Cortes de Cima 2005 Chamine, Alentejo

Porto and Madeira!!
Rocha 2000 Late Bottled Vintage, Porto
Cossart Gordon 5 Year Bual, Madeira

And the Super-Special, Spectacular Tawny For Cystic Fibrosis!!!
Kopke 1991 Colheita, Porto

A stellar deal at $10 for the First 5, $6 for the Extra 2 Premium Pours, and $5 for the Charity Pour.
Hope to see you here!

Seize the Wine!

Next Friday tasting is Zinfandel!

M